


The Avengers' Princess: The Beginning

by AngeNoir



Series: Gifts for Tumblr Users [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Domestic, Gen, Kittens, Tony says he doesn't like animals but the Avengers find out he's lying, lazy Saturday mornings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-28
Updated: 2012-09-28
Packaged: 2017-11-15 05:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/523530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngeNoir/pseuds/AngeNoir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unabashed domestic fluff. Princess comes to live at the Avengers' tower and latches onto Phil as being the most sane because she has beautiful instincts.</p><p>(Or maybe it's just because his breath smells like tuna in the morning.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Avengers' Princess: The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tumblr username Super Polo](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=tumblr+username+Super+Polo).



> So I'm moving all my writings here, so that I can find it all and stop finding random fics hiding in different places on my laptop. This was written a while ago for the wonderful user Super Polo. Their tumblr is amazing, they are an awesome person in general, and I wish this was better quality!
> 
> This is part of a larger headcanon that may or may not get written because I just have waaayyy too many stories bouncing around in my head. Yes, even of the Avengers and kittens. This is what distracts me from my epic fanfiction The Animal Within. Now you know why progress is moving so slowly there.

_Birthday fic for[Super Polo](http://superpolo.tumblr.com/)! Tried to make it short. I am horrible at writing short stories, apparently. Yes, there's a larger headcanon behind this. No, I don't know when I'll actually get around to writing it._

* * *

 

Phil blinked open his eyes and stared down his chest into two brilliant gold eyes. He blinked; the eyes blinked in return. He sat up, and the little bundle of smoky grey fur had a spaz attack and fell off the bed.

“Clint?” he called out, sure the archer was waiting in the air vents or in the bathroom to spring out a ‘haha, look at your _face_ ’ prank, but when he looked around he was alone. Clint normally woke up early every day, regardless of the fact it was a weekend, but Phil took advantage of the softer bed and his day off on Saturdays and spent the morning at Clint’s apartment in Stark’s tower. Or, well, Tony’s tower – it’d been six months, the team was coming along fine, and Phil was finding out that he was starting to like Tony’s brand of crazy.

Which didn’t change the fact that there was a little fuzzball sniffing around his slippers.

He scooped the tiny, mewling thing, put on his slippers, and padded into the kitchen.

Saturday morning craziness had overtaken the Avengers’ common kitchen; Clint had obviously made French toast, an easy dish that was difficult to mess up and even harder to hate, and Thor had a huge plateful in front of him as he argued with Steve over which cartoon show to settle on. Natasha was placidly curled up in an armchair, apparently ignoring the chaos, yarn in her lap as she crocheted. Another attempt at making a stuffed bear, if Phil could remember the pattern well enough – the other had been lopsided and she’d been annoyed at the asymmetrical design (though Thor had loved it, as he loved all the things Natasha deemed not good enough and passed on to him).

Bruce was sitting at the head of the kitchen table, staring down at the breakfast cereal with circles under his eyes. Another late night, then – which also explained why Tony wasn’t anywhere around. Tony normally didn’t wake up until ten at the earliest, and his latest had been four in the afternoon. It was ten-thirty, though, so depending on just how late he and Bruce had been up, and what they’d been doing, he might show up soon.

Natasha, always aware of her surroundings, raised an eyebrow. “New friend?” she asked.

Steve and Thor looked away from the television screen and stared at the tiny kitten squirming in Phil’s hand. Protectively, Phil cupped the kitten closer and said, “I’m not quite sure. Woke up to it in the bed.”

“Not me!” Clint said instantly. “What is it?”

“It is a kitten! Jane’s friend Darcy has a full-grown cat, though they are not very big, but this one is by far the tiniest one I have yet seen!” Thor enthused, getting up from the table and putting his hand out to the kitten.

It sniffed delicately at his hand and then leapt at him, claws digging into the oversized t-shirt he had on, and he laughed good-naturedly as Phil tried not to fret. For pity’s sake, the cat wasn’t even _his_ ; no reason to feel overly protective of it!

“I used to love cats though I was allergic; our neighbor down three doors had tons of them. Beautiful creatures. What’s its name? Is it a boy or a girl?” Steve asked, pushing away from the table to come over as if helplessly drawn to the tiny bundle that was crawling over Thor’s shoulders.

“You know Tony doesn’t like animals that much,” Bruce mumbled from where he was sitting, but he looked noticeably more alert and interested now that his attention was riveted on the cat. “How did it get in your room?”

Phil shook his head slowly as the two tallest men cooed at the kitten. “I just – woke up and it was there.”

“Bring the cat over here,” Natasha said, and there was a moment of hesitation before Steve unhooked the tiny claws from Thor’s sweatpants and carried the fragile bundle over. Natasha took the kitten competently, flipping it over and making it mewl in indignation as she checked its sex, its paws, and its eyes but refused to let it play with the yarn.

After a few minutes, she handed the cat back over to Steve, where it immediately crawled up his arm and mewed. “Healthy. Female, most likely, and no more than six weeks, seven weeks old.”

There was a crashing noise, and then Tony came skidding into the kitchen, wild-eyed and hair mussed. “Steve have you—”

All the Avengers turned to look at Tony as he caught sight of the kitten and turned an interesting shade of red.

“Tony?” Bruce asked incredulously.

“Nope.”

“Tony did you—”

“Nu-uh. Nope.”

Steve blinked in surprise at Tony. “I thought you didn’t like animals?” he ventured.

“I don’t! I do not. Animals and me do not get along, nope, nu-uh, I had nothing to do with this—”

“Where was it?” Natasha asked, hands stilling over the yarn. Tony glared defiantly at her but within seconds he was crumpling.

“I went out for a donut run because it was – what, Bruce, two in the morning? Or something. Yeah. And, well…” Tony flushed even more, biting his lip, and he shrugged as if he was indifferent. “Well, it was in a box, okay, in the dumpster, and the box was taped closed, and so, well, I was going to take it to a shelter but the shelters aren’t open at two freaking AM, so I brought it back and. Well. It was supposed to stay in my room, but _someone_ left the door open.”

Thor clapped Tony on the back and nearly sent the engineer face-first into the remains of Steve’s food. “My friend, there is no need for a shelter! We can keep the wee lady here, and she shall forever be our companion!”

“Yeah,” Clint chimed in, putting down the spatula and turning off the heat. “We can get a tiny collar, some formula, a bottle – she’s very feisty and rambunctious, for that young of an age. I think she should be called Viper!”

Phil narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. “That is not an appropriate name for the kitten,” he protested, taking the tiny creature back from Steve and cradling it close. “If no one’s allergic, and she’s healthy, she can stay.”

“She doesn’t have to stay – I was going to give it to a shelter—“ Tony started.

“Do you _want_ to give it to a shelter?” Steve asked, sounding horrified, and Phil watched as Tony wavered under those puppy eyes. Bruce snickered.

“Well – no, it’s fine if you guys want it to stay—”

Steve shook his head. “She’s fine, she’s a she, not an it.”

“Okay, alright, she’s fine, I mean—“

“Thank you, Tony!” Thor boomed, and that’s when Clint came up next to Phil and brushed a finger over the kitten’s head. It preened under Clint’s hand, and Phil smiled.

“Princess,” Natasha cut in.

Everyone turned to look at her.

“We’ll call the cat Princess, feeding her is your job, Steve, Tony, you’re going to have to proof the house so the kitten can’t get into your lab, or Bruce’s lab. And we’ll need a house-sitter for when we’re on missions; we’re not leaving the cat in the hands of Dum-E, as brilliant as he is.”

And that was how Princess ruled over Avengers Tower.


End file.
